Super Bowl XLIV

last Sunday the biggest football game of the year was held. Super bowl XLIV was held this year in Miami, FL. The two teams in the super bowl this year had the best records and were both one seeds so it was no surprise. the two teams were the 14-2 Indianapolis Colts, and the 13-3 New Orleans Saints. The game started off slow with a  Indianopolis 38 yard field goal by Matt Stover with five minutes left in the first quarter. then the Colts got the ball back Quick with a 19-yard touchdown pass from P. Manning to P. Garcon. but the saints didn’t give up they fought back with 2 fieldgoals in the second and the score at half time was Colts 10 and saints 6. in the third quater the saints opened it up with a 16-yard touchdown pass from D. Brees to P. Thomas. That was the First saints lead of the game. after that with 7  minutes left in the third J Addai pounded it in from 4 yards out to give the Colts the last lead of the game.  At the end of the third the score was New Orleans 16 Indianpolis 17.  in the fourth quater it was all Saints started off by a 2-yard Touchdown catch by J. Shockey. and then an interception for a Touchdown to put an end of super bowl XLIV. this was the Saints first ever super bowl.

AFC Wild Card Matchup

It seems as though the era of the New England Patriots may be coming to and end, or at least a temporary halt.  The Baltimore Ravens, who were awarded with the sixth and final spot in the AFC playoffs, traveled to New England to take on the Patriots.  New England is known for being a dominant team in the playoffs, especially when they get to play in front of their home crowd.

It didn’t take long for the Ravens to get on the board.  On the first play from scrimmage, running back Ray Rice ran up the middle and busted through the middle and was off to the races for an 83-yard touchdown run.  Within the first five minutes, Baltimore was already up 14-0 over the Patriots.  New England had to wake up quick if they wanted any chance of winning the game.

With four minutes left in the first quarter, Ray Rice ran in for a one yard score to extend the Raven’s lead to 21 points.  Billy Cundiff then added three more points to the lead with his 27-yard field goal.  New England finally got on the board in the second quarter with a 6 yard touchdown pass by Tom Brady.  Cundiff hit a 23 yarder to push the lead to 27-7 midway through the third quarter.  The Patriots answered with a one yard touchdown pass to make it 27-14 Ravens.  The Ravens stuck the dagger in with a 3 yard touchdown run by Willis McGahee, they failed on the two-point conversion so the lead was 33-14, and that would end up being the final score.

The Ravens travel to Indianapolis next Saturday to face the top team in the AFC for a division round matchup.  The game will be played at 7:15 right after the Cardinals and Saints game.

The regular season is over and the playoffs are set to begin in the NFL. This weekend is the wild card round. The Green Bay Packers will play the Arizona Cardinals in a rematch of last weeks meeting. The Packers won in a blowout 33-7. The other NFC playoff match-up is the Philadelphia Eagles at the Dallas Cowboys in a rematch from last week also. The Cowboys blew out the Eagles in a 24-0 win. The AFC has the New York Jets against the Cincinnati Bengals and the Baltimore Ravens against the New England Patriots. 

Chris Henry

The NFL lost a member of its family Thursday morning, one day after falling out of the back of a pickup truck in what authorities described as a domestic dispute with his fiancee.  Although Chris was no stranger to trouble, his teammates and coaches say he was determined to turn his life around and move ahead toward a bright future.

“Everyone makes mistakes”, says Bengal’s wide receiver Chad Ochocinco, “But I don’t see how Chris was supposed to go already, especially when he was on the right path.”

Chris Henry was only 26 years old at the time of his death.  He was away from the Bengals after suffering a season-ending broken forearm in a game last month.

“There was a lot of speculation about who Chris was”, says Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer, “but the only guys that knew him and knew how good of a heart he had, how kind he was, how gentle he was, how soft of a heart he had, were the guys in our locker room, the guys that were close to him, his family.”

New Orleans Saints

New England Patriots

The Patriots came into New Orleans with the opportunity to give the Saints their first loss of the 2009 season.

That idea was quickly forgotten as Drew Brees was a near perfect 18 completions on 23 passing attempts.  He completed those 18 passes for a total of 371 yards and 5 touchdowns, with no interceptions on the night either.

Tom Brady never seemed to get himself into a good, solid rhythm with his offense as he went  21 for 36, 237 yards and 2 interceptions, no touchdowns.

The win for the Saints improves their record to 11-0, and the Patriots fall to 7-4 on the season.  The Saints play the Redskins next week and the Patriots play the Dolphins.

New England Patriots vs Indianapolis Colts

The New England Patriots came into Indianapolis this past Sunday night to take on the Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium.  This game featured two of the NFL’s most elite powerhouse teams.  Also, two of the league’s best quarterbacks played in this game, Peyton Manning, and Tom Brady.

The Colts struck first on a 15-yard touchdown pass from Manning to Joseph Addai to take a 7-0 lead.  New England answered right back to tie it with a one yard run by Laurence Maroney.  The Patriots then went on to score 17 more unanswered points and took a comanding 24-7 lead with 7:19 remaining in the first half.  Then with 4:17 to go, Peyton Manning hit Reggie Wayne on a 20-yard touchdown strike to make it a 24-14 game at the half.

Both defenses stepped up in the third quarter as neither team managed to put points on the board.  New England opened the fourth quarter with a 5-yard touchdown from Tom Brady to Randy Moss, to take a 31-14 lead, this seemed to wrap up a victory for the Patriots.  The Colts responded quickly with a 29-yard pass from Manning to Pierre Garcon, making it 31-21 with 12:14 remaining in the game.  Then, with only 4:12 remaining in the game, Stephen Gostkowski split the uprights to extended the Patriots’ lead to 34-21.  Peyton Manning marched the Colts offense right down the field and on a third and one at the New England 4-yard line, Manning gave it to Addai, who ran it in for the score to pull within six points.

The Colts kicked it off needing a big stop by their defense to get a chance to win the game.  The Patriots started the drive at their 20-yard line and went three-and-out.  Now faced with a fourth down and two at their own 28-yard line, the Patriots were forced to punt it back to Manning and his offense, or were they?  Patriots’ coach Bill Belichick made an unthinkable call to go for it on fourth down deep in their own territory, a first down would win the game for New England.  It all came down to one play.  Brady took the snap and tossed it over to Kevin Faulk who bobbled the ball, caught it, and was crushed just a half of a yard short of a first down.  Belichick’s decision backfired and gave the Colts the ball with only 28 yards left to win the game.  In four plays, Manning drove down and on the fourth play he hit Reggie Wayne in the end zone to  score the game-winning touchdown.

With this win, the Colts remain unbeaten and move to 9-0 on the year as the Patriots fall to 6-3.  The Colts will play at Baltimore this week and the Patriots host the New York Jets.

It is already half-way through the NFL season. There are some players who already set themselves away from the rest of the pack. The top passer in the league was Matt Schaub of the Houston Texans. Peyton Manning and Tom Brady were a close second and third respectfully. Chris Johnson of the Tennessee Titans  is leagues leading rusher so far. Followed by Cedric Benson and Steven Jackson. Andre Johnson is the leading wide receiver in the league. Reggie Wayne and VIncent Jackson are the next best wide receivers in the NFL. My choice for MVP so far this year is Drew Brees however.(MVP means most valuable player) He is one of the best Quarterbacks in the NFL and his team in undefeated, the New Orleans Saints.(all league leaders are based on total yards by position)

Drew Brees

The winless 0-6 titans played The Jacksonville Jaguars Last sunday. who already beat them in week four losing by 20 points. But last week the titans switched from veteran Quarterback Kerry collins to Vince young. the first quarter started out slow for both teams only amounting up in 3 points by the titans off a Rob Bironas 48 yard field goal. The big scoring began in the second quarter started by a long drive down field by the titans and finished the drive off with a 6 Yard touchdown pass to Wide receiver Nate Washington. After that another field goal by Rob Bironas and the Titans were winning 13-0. But The Jaguars began to comeback with an 80 yard Maurice Jones-Drew Touchdown run. The score at halftime was titans winning by 6 the score 13-7.

The second half scoring was started off with another long run by Maurice Jones-Drew. This one was a 79 yard Touchdown run but the PAT

was blocked leaving the score 13-13. then from that point on Chris Johnson took co

ntrol of the game with 2 touchdown runs and 228 yards on 20 carries leading th

e league in yards. Rob Bironas tacked on another field goal. pretty much ending

the game with a final score of  30-13. The titans hope the quarterback change will help them the rest of the season.

The WUHS Freshman Football team played the Central Falcons on October 20th, 2009. The Central Falcons came to Wilmot hoping for the win of the night. It started off looking like Central was going to accomplish that goal, but the defense line had a different idea. The defense held Central back and this time it was Wilmot with the return.

With just minutes left in the 2nd quarter the score was tied 6 to 6. With four minutes left in the 3rd quarter Wilmot took off and scored another touchdown. Bringing the score to 14 to 6 Wimot.

The freshman held back the Falcons again and scored another touchdown to 20 to 6. With 45 seconds left in the game the Falcons scored bring the final score to 20 to 12 Wilmot. Fantastic job guys.

After losing to the Burlington Demons 26 to 37 last friday, they came ready to play this Wednesday against Central for their last regular season game. A blocked punt by Tyler Rowland which was recovered in the end zone by John Urbaitis  put the Panthers ahead 6-0 in the second quarter. Then Landon Tenhagen kicked a 21 yard field goal with 4 seconds left of the second quarter to put the panthers up 9-0. Central then kicked a 27 yard field goal by Tyler Schoenke to make the score 9-3. That would be the only score for the Falcons because it went all downhill from there for them. Tenhagen kicked another field goal  for a 23 yarder and wilmot scored another 2 touchdowns which made the final score to be Wilmot 26, Central 3. Overall WIlmot had 5 forced turnovers. Dave Lunetta had 2 interceptions and Landon Tenhagen had 1. Now Wilmot will have  wait to see Friday if they have a chance to play in the playoffs.